Wilfrid Stinissen
What is characteristic of it?
First of all, it must have a religious character, as Christ stands at its center. In Christian meditation, we strive, in one way or another, to draw closer to God. A synonym for the word meditation could thus be inner or silent prayer. For a Christian, meditation is a part of a great adventure of love. One invests their whole life into it. After all, it concerns our relationship with the “living God” (Acts 14:15) and the “Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), a relationship consisting of action and reaction, address and response. Nothing is as alive as Christian prayer, precisely because it is a symbol of openness to life itself (John 14:6). That Christian meditation is life itself also means that there is an inner connection between meditation and action. Meditation influences our activity, and our activity influences meditation.
Anyone who does not attempt to align their life with the message of love in the gospel cannot expect to go very far in meditation. Just as the ethics of the gospel does not work without mysticism, mysticism does not work without ethics. In Christianity, meditation is not the final step. To meditate does not mean to blissfully drown in the ocean of God’s love. To meditate is to open oneself to the Holy Spirit and to let oneself be filled by it; to meditate is to expose oneself to the influence of God Himself and to be driven to action. Those who meditate already experience the power of God, but they painfully realize that the Kingdom of God is still very far away. Those who have known peace find the world's wars unbearable. Those who become aware in their innermost being that the whole world was created for unity cannot help but take a stand against the fragmentation of the world and the confusion of humanity. The experience of God provides a deep insight into the state the world finds itself in, and a will to become a component of the strength that can lead the world toward the Kingdom of God.
If meditation becomes merely an immersion in the absolute – and God is the absolute – it can become self-serving and passive. However, if we perceive God as self-giving love and identify with this love during meditation, then the will to work, to act, and to contribute actively flows into us – away from passivity and selfishness. Thus, the participant in Christian meditation has an interest in approaching God. This interest is not merely passive but boldly active because we believe that God cares for humanity. The Bible speaks of a person seeking God, but even more about God seeking humanity. Therefore, we can characterize a person's stance towards God as a response to God’s call. In meditation, not only the spirit but also the body plays an important role. The times when the body was considered an unworthy, flawed temporal aspect of the soul are long gone. Influenced by philosophy, theology eventually found its way back to the original view of the Bible and Christianity concerning humanity as a whole. God took on human nature, including the bodily form of a human being.
Jesus had a real body, not merely an apparent one; he was a man of flesh and blood, a man who was born, lived, and died like other people. The ideal of a Christian person is not to be an angel but to be what Jesus was: true God and true man.
Unlike animals, humans stand upright: Homo erectus. They connect heaven and earth. They are tethered to the earth because they walk on it and stand upon it. At the same time, however, they reach towards heaven, turning to God. The task of humanity is to maintain these two forces, heaven and earth, in balance throughout their life. The task is actually paradoxical: a person stands taut between heaven and earth and is meant to feel at home between these two poles. Thus, awareness of one’s own body is very important during meditation. Whether we want it or not, our body is involved when we meditate and helps us achieve inner stillness. We can here speak of the spiritual and physical aspect of one and the same activity. When we together bring a sacrifice to God, we stand. If we want to humble ourselves and penitently acknowledge our guilt, we fall to our knees, thus making ourselves as small as possible before God. However, if we wish to dedicate ourselves to meditation, which is a pause amid the daily hustle and bustle, we do so sitting. While sitting in meditation, we must do so motionless and in a quiet environment. External and internal peace belong together. It is no coincidence that Teresa of Avila also calls the first stage on the path of mysticism “the prayer of peace”; in this prayer, we attain calmness, both external and internal.
A common question is how long and when we should meditate. Twenty minutes is considered the minimum duration. In a time shorter than twenty minutes, we generally cannot reach deep inner quiet. Centuries of experience – and not just monastic – show that it is best for a person to respect their natural rhythm and get up early in the morning (provided they did not go to bed too late the night before). Starting the day with a moment of prayer is also old monastic wisdom. Work will go better for us, and we will have a better attitude towards it if we have dedicated ourselves to meditation before starting it. And perhaps there will come a time when we find our need for meditation so great that we can set aside time for it not only in the morning but also in the evening. Ideally, one should also find a small corner where they retreat solely for prayer and meditation. Let’s hang an icon or a cross there on which we can rest our gaze during meditation.
Before beginning meditation, it is important not only to assume the correct posture of the body but also to breathe calmly and to release all inner and outer tension. Only then can we adequately open ourselves to God and surrender to Him. In the order of Carmelites, the most important principle is “sequi flantem Spiritum Sanctum” (to submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit), for it is the Holy Spirit itself that ultimately decides how we should meditate.
A few meditations
“Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
“Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ And having said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:46).
For centuries, the church has used these words during evening prayer, knowing that every evening we have the opportunity to experience a small death. To fall asleep means to put everything aside, to detach yourself radically from your work and your plans, even to give up your consciousness. Consciously you die to life and confidently surrender yourself to Love.
“The youngest son of Rabbi Sussja said: ‘The righteous must continuously cast aside their own life in order to receive a new spirit and to be illuminated again and again by new light. This is the mystery of sleep’” (Martin Buber: The Tales of the Hasidim).
Sleep and death are close relatives. When we speak of a person who has died, we say that they have passed away, and of Jairus’ deceased daughter, Jesus says that she is sleeping (Mark 5:39). Our nightly little death is preparation for the great death. If you entrust your life each evening with confidence into the hands of your heavenly Father, it will not be difficult for you to depart when the time comes to “go to the Father” (John 14:12).
In your evening meditation, you will learn to fall asleep and die. While you breathe, you continuously repeat: “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” Or you can divide the sentence into inhalation (“into your hands”) and exhalation (“I commend my spirit”). In doing so, you become increasingly aware of the beauty of the night: “Oh night, says God, oh night, my daughter… you honor me in sleep much more than your brother day honors me in his work. For in his work, man does not honor me otherwise than by his labor. However, in sleep, I am praised by man surrendering himself to me” (Charles Péguy: Portal to the Mystery of Hope).
Counting His Names
You have taken your meditative position and are breathing calmly. Not too deeply: everything that resembles violence disturbs true life. You exhale and inhale, doing so completely consciously. After a while, you begin to count your breaths. With each inhalation, you think of the number one; with each exhalation, you let it descend deeply into your innermost being, down to the area of the navel. There, you hold it for the duration of the pause between inhalation and exhalation. Then you inhale again and think of the number two. So you continue until ten.
After the first series, you start again from the beginning and count again to ten. Then perhaps another series will follow. If you wish, you can also use a rosary. Not for the purpose of enhancing performance for your own satisfaction, but because the small activity of sliding your fingers over the beads of the rosary can prevent you from falling into daydreaming. It is hardly possible to avoid being disturbed by inappropriate thoughts and curiosity about how far you have gotten in counting. Do not worry about that and keep counting. It is important to be aware of your breath all the time. Eventually, instead of counting numbers, repeat the words “Jesus” or “Father.” With each breath, you anchor yourself deeper and deeper in Him. You already knew before that the umbilical cord connecting you to Him had never been severed. But now it has become a living reality from mere awareness. You become a child again, who, just like the Son, may rest in the Father’s lap (John 1:18). You watch as arms grow from your innermost being, stretching open and extending to Him. When you finish your meditation, you will be aware that the Father will forever remain with you and that you are a tiny human being who was allowed to bask for a moment in God's light and is now reborn.
Open Hands
According to an old definition, a person is “ratio et manus” (reason and hands). With your reason, a person plans, and with their hands, they carry out what has been planned. Your hands are a flexible tool designed to serve the world and also to serve God. The appearance of your hands reveals how you serve the world. Are they the rough hands of a laborer or the delicate, sensitive hands of a surgeon? Your hands are also meant to serve God. In your hands, you present yourself to God so that God can accomplish His work in you. “I always carry my soul in my hands” (Psalm 119:109).
Place your hands upon each other, palms up, fingers pointing in the opposite direction, the back of your left hand resting on the palm of your right hand. The thumbs of both hands touch. Let your hands rest on your knees. In doing so, you express what you want to be before God: a wide open cup into which God can pour His love. Empty hands are always free hands, ready to receive. When you open your hands in prayer, you express your inner disposition: I do not want to initiate anything or change anything; I am fully available to you, Lord! You stand before God with empty hands and allow Him to fill this cup. John of the Cross speaks of the “almost unlimited capacity” of the soul. Your open hands are a symbol of your inner longing for God: Come, God, come! You do not even need to repeatedly assure God of how open you want to be to Him. The only thing you need to focus on is your open hands. Experience them full! You cannot help but feel the tingling of life in every muscle, in every joint of your fingers. The openness of your hands should penetrate your whole being.
He opened your clenched fists and made them a cup into which He pours His grace.
Flow of Peace
“Behold, I want to send peace upon Jerusalem, peace like a river’s flow” (Isaiah 66:12). Our God is the God of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). He pours His peace upon you, not only upon your soul but also upon your body. His peace is like “precious oil upon the head, which flows down the beard… to the edge of the garments” (Psalm 133:2). Feel how this sacred oil slowly, slowly flows over your head, down your shoulders and arms, down your chest and belly, down your legs to your feet. Do not let God’s balm miss any part of your body. Feel how the body, the more it comes into contact with God’s peace, releases tension. The body has already surrendered its resistance. Everything that was tightly closed is opening; what was hard is softening. You feel that peace gradually penetrates your relaxed body to your innermost being. God pours balm into your body and into your soul – a balm that cools, cleanses, and comforts.
Then you will let God's peace flow through your entire being once more, and perhaps again. Till you can say: “I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests in its mother’s arms… so is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:2). God has poured into you something of His eternal peace.
Undoubtedly, thoughts and worries will intrude. The work you set aside is knocking on the door of your memory and your imagination. Do not try to forcefully dismiss thoughts; rather, resist any discussion with them. Instead, immerse yourself once again in God’s peace. Perhaps it will help if, after each such disturbance, you quietly repeat: “Return to your peace, my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you” (Psalm 116:7).
Frequently conduct a cleansing bath in God’s peace! Without fear that it is a mere escape from reality. On the contrary, you will penetrate deeper into true reality, and it will become easier for you to discern truth from lies, essence from peripheral matters.
“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
(Excerpt from the Book on Christian Meditation,
translated by Prof. Dagmar Chvojková)
